This invention relates generally to a drilling machine and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a contour-following drill machine for drilling a plurality of holes used in joining an outboard wing assembly to a center wing section of an aircraft.
Heretofore, the aircraft industry has used a somewhat "standard" approach in accomplishing wing join operations. A drill jig or plate is fabricated and clamped in position on the surface to be drilled. The drilling is accomplished by drilling a large number of fastener holes using the drill jig as a guide and hand holding the drill.
With the development and use of tapered shank fasteners, closer tolerance hole dimensions are required thereby making the joining of the wing assemblies even more difficult. The fastener holes are made by performing a multi-step drilling and reaming operation requiring a plurality of different size drills and reamers.
The joining of composite structures of steel and aluminum used in the wing sections presents major problems in meeting perpendicularity and maintaining surface quality necessary for receiving the tapered shank fasteners. Further, the use of a drill plate on lower wing surfaces necessitates overhead drilling operations which increase the problems of meeting rigged quality standards.
Because of the common problems described above in the standard approach of joining wing sections of an aircraft, the subject invention was developed and described herein.